Criminal Law

We offer an outstanding program in criminal law, providing a solid foundation for a career in criminal law practice, policy development, or in academia. Penn Law is home to some of the country’s leading criminal law scholars, who bring both deep expertise and multi-disciplinary perspectives to the study of criminal law.

Students can enroll in a broad range of courses in criminal law, from the foundational first-year course, to upper level courses in criminal procedure, to specialized seminars in penal code reform, white-collar crime, federal criminal law, the death penalty and more.

Spotlight

In Intuitions of Justice and the Utility of Desert, Professor Paul H. Robinson demonstrates that criminal law rules that deviate from public conceptions of justice and desert can seriously undermine the American criminal justice system’s integrity and credibility by failing to recognize or meet the needs of the communities it serves. He warns that compromising the American criminal justice system to satisfy other interests can uncover the hidden costs incurred when a community’s notions about justice are not reflected in its criminal laws.